Couldnt agree more. A driveshaft that was wrongly glued or put together will fail, fix kit or not.
Eventually there will be 100s of sleds with good driveshafts, riding around with a fix kit, and the only thing it will do is adding rotating mass.
FYI- Polaris Pro RMK Driveshaft fix by EdgeWorks.
- Thread starter Avi8tormd
- Start date
Couldnt agree more. A driveshaft that was wrongly glued or put together will fail, fix kit or not.
Eventually there will be 100s of sleds with good driveshafts, riding around with a fix kit, and the only thing it will do is adding rotating mass.
M
mike_s
Well-known member
Kinda the same way a hose clamp holds a radiator hose on...yeah, sure it will stay on there itself without the hose clamp, but not too well. This is not an ideal situation or fix, but given what there is to work with here, im interested to see what ideas you have that will work better.
There is only two ways to "fix" a drive axle with bad glue.. #1 get a drive axle from Polaris that has good glue. #2 Get a drive axle out of a 2012 RMK or the 05 900 RMK and change out the drivers.
This is not the place to use a hose clamp.
S
snowmobiler
Well-known member
You guys saying that the fix kits can't work crack me up. I have had a failed shaft in my hands to be able to see the shortcomings of the glue, as in looks like it was not covering the entire stub surface area.
The kits do work to help strengthen the shaft, even if they had no glue. The way the shaft fails is by deforming the aluminum, as it spins, the stub is putting pressure on the corners and the aluminum isn't strong enough to prevent that. The collars that these guys are putting on the shafts are no different than the steel collars that Polaris and all the other manufacturers put on the plastic drivers. The plastic isn't strong enough by itself to prevent the driver from spinning on the shaft, yet the collar prevents the spreading and holds it in place. These fix kits are doing the same thing. I'm not saying that this is permanent and I don't think that the sellers of any of these claim that it is, but you guys claiming that it can't work are wrong.
The kits do work to help strengthen the shaft, even if they had no glue. The way the shaft fails is by deforming the aluminum, as it spins, the stub is putting pressure on the corners and the aluminum isn't strong enough to prevent that. The collars that these guys are putting on the shafts are no different than the steel collars that Polaris and all the other manufacturers put on the plastic drivers. The plastic isn't strong enough by itself to prevent the driver from spinning on the shaft, yet the collar prevents the spreading and holds it in place. These fix kits are doing the same thing. I'm not saying that this is permanent and I don't think that the sellers of any of these claim that it is, but you guys claiming that it can't work are wrong.
S
suitcase
Well-known member
And here they come, you guys coming into a thread like this and posting your bad attitude comments on how it can't work, there is no way this will work, please tell me how this is going to work. Im getting so sick of peoples bad vibes. If you don't like these ideas, then stay out of there thread.
Hear is a company that has a very good reputation, and has come up with an idea to help people, and all some of you want to do is tear it down. You may not be as smart as you think. mind you own ideas!
Hear is a company that has a very good reputation, and has come up with an idea to help people, and all some of you want to do is tear it down. You may not be as smart as you think. mind you own ideas!
Good point skibreeze. Im surprised no one has modeled this in solid works and done some FEA testing with/without the added part.
Looks like its time for a driveshaft fix SHOOTOUT !!
The glue is a joke.....its not the problem or the answer....it's a lack of contact area/ strength at the interface of the 2 components.
The glue is a joke.....its not the problem or the answer....it's a lack of contact area/ strength at the interface of the 2 components.
When the glue works the shaft is basically one piece. As strong as a weld of similar metals. That is the crux of the problem. Steel stub that is very strong, Extruded aluminum shaft that is strong enough. Joint that could be weak if the glue is not applied properly or very strong if done correctly. It "looks" weak but again if the bond of the glue is there it is as strong as a weld.
skibreeze;3200891 I'm not saying that this is permanent and I don't think that the sellers of any of these claim that it is said:
A set of raised grooves or nipples along the axis of the outer and inner pieces and a single milled grove would allow a keyway fit and increased surface area. This would allow for space so the glue has increased surface area for bonding. This is the engineering fix for Polaris (a 2014 pro is my fee please). The fix kits well they should work but there is some mass that is unbalanced and potentialy untested with the shaft and bearings. The rotational energy is not my concern but rather how this mass effects the other parts. That said the lower rotations energy was the advantage of this system.
Funny we complain about weight, they give us what we want ia a factory sled and we complain when the solution does not work the first time seem a little unrealistic to not expect the unexpected.
Funny we complain about weight, they give us what we want ia a factory sled and we complain when the solution does not work the first time seem a little unrealistic to not expect the unexpected.
This isn't the first time, they had prototypes running all spring w/o these issues. We are complaining about ****ty integration from prototype to production or lack of quality control.
If the glue fails to work like a weld. Like it was intended to. What keeps this three piece shaft running true with the forces of the track (track tension,accelleration,decelleration) plus the pressure the belt drive has on it?
I have a 2013 sitting in the garage and have'nt been able to get it on snow yet. I will buy a fix if I can see in my mind that it will work. Enlighten me suitcase.
I have a 2013 sitting in the garage and have'nt been able to get it on snow yet. I will buy a fix if I can see in my mind that it will work. Enlighten me suitcase.
Or duct tape or bailing wire or these cheap billet clamps that the CNC jockeys are cranking out to smooth your ruffled feathers. If your glue it hard, in all likely hood your shaft is fine! If it is soft, no hose clamp (billet or not) will save it from failure. Your only real option is the two quoted above or if you feel yourself qualified reglueing it yourself.
To say "if the glue is hard, you are probably fine" IMO is not accurate at this point. The one I saw had hard glue. IMO this failure was attributed to most of the glue only being in the glue groove in the stub, there wasn't much at all on either side of that and this is the surface area that is needed to get a good bond between the stub and the shaft.
Driveshaft fix
at least these fix it kits are getting cheaper! Called to order one of the kits from RKTech last week but price jumped overnight on them. Supply and demand I guess! Something tells me these collars will be getting cheaper now....
at least these fix it kits are getting cheaper! Called to order one of the kits from RKTech last week but price jumped overnight on them. Supply and demand I guess! Something tells me these collars will be getting cheaper now....
What i become sick off is how everybody is making such a big deal out of the broken driveshafts. People are already too scared too ride their new sled on the snow, because off all the comotion around the driveshaft failures. And these various companyes exploiting the situation too sell these so called fix kit, are not helping either.
What about all the sleds that dont break driveshafts? Do they have faulty driveshafts, because they dont break? Or is it more reasonable that it's the 15-20 driveshafts that have broken, that are the ones faulty?
The mechanical connection between the two substrates must be 1.5 times the dia. for a proper hold, same as a bolt to thread connection. A sideways pull of the track depending upon how tight or loose it is run will determine how long a .5" connection will last with a sideways load! The aluminum has a tensile strength from 42KSI to a high of 79KSI depending upon alloy. I would bet it is 6000 series which would be at the lower end of the scale, and once you drill a hole in the end it is far weaker in that area. This .5" connection will auger out the aluminum tube sooner or later just like taking a steel bar and jamming it in a piece of tube a .5" and putting a sideways load against it will flare out on the one side. Now jam it in 2.5" and try it, it will fail on the leading edge of the solid bar before the wall bends out. Now what I haven't seen is the length of the other end piece and it's connection which I bet is further in? If this was a 2.5" connection and tied into the interior webbing with 3 slots machined into the cap you would never hear of this problem. As for the machined end cap retainers they will help retain the aluminum in the hex shape for the time being until a properly fastened driveshaft is made. The glue will work it just needs more surface area to contact with and distribution channels to get it there. Even if it extruded between the faying surfaces a .005 bondline will have little meaning in the word of strength. Too bad this had to happen on a more thoroughly refined machine, I am sure they will get this addressed in short order if it is just a bad batch of short machined end caps? Enough said Mike
Enough said
Enough said